In 2008, the Long Beach Airport began generating clean and renewable energy by installing six “solar trees.” Each tree is made up of a steel pole topped with a photovoltaic (PV) array approximately 9 feet by 9 feet in dimension. The arrays are bolted to a dual-axis tracker that will guide the array to maximize solar gain by shifting tilt and orientation every hour to track the sun throughout the day. The panels of the solar tree are bi-facial which means that they collect light from above and also reflected light from below, thereby maximizing solar ray exposure.

In addition to generating clean energy, the Airport’s “solar forest” will effectively offset nearly a half million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of planting three acres of trees, over its system life.